| Number | Number of | ||
| Parish or District. | of | Inhabitants to | |
| Inspectors. | each Inspector. | ||
| Greenwich | 1 | 148,545 | |
| Newington | 1 | 117,870 | |
| Mile-End-Old-Town | 1 | 111,607 | |
| Lambeth | 4 | 69,683 | |
| Poplar | 2 | 86,671 | |
| Bermondsey | 1 | 88,770 | |
| Shoreditch | 2 | 62,754 | |
| St. Pancras | 4 | 60,389 | |
| Paddington | 2 | 55,567 | |
| Marylebone | 3 | 50,294 | |
| Hackney | 4 | 56,431 | |
| Bethnal Green | 2½ | 51,958 | |
| Camberwell | 4 | 59,500 |
In the whole of the metropolis there were 103 Inspectors of Nuisances—a rough average of one Inspector to about 40,000 of the population.
How could it be expected that one Inspector could look after a town of 40,000 people?
Consistently, and, year after year, insistently, did the bulk of the Medical Officers of Health complain of the lack of sufficient Sanitary Inspectors, and point out the necessity for more Sanitary Inspectors; some begged for them—but to nearly all these appeals the Vestries turned a deaf ear.
Every now and then some incident occurred or some exposure was made of some abominations of insanitation which were a revelation of the extraordinary methods adopted by some men in utilising land for building houses regardless of all sanitary consequences whatever to others.
In the Times of December 18, 1883, an article was published entitled “A Curious Site for Industrial Dwellings.”
“The things which are done in London under the shadow of legal right are sometimes startling.”
In Bethnal Green were two disused burial-grounds—“Globe Fields” and “Peel Grove.” Parliament authorised a railway line to be constructed through “Globe Fields.”
Foundations had to be made for the arches, and trenches had to be dug in the burial-ground.